Refurbishing an Impetus Hunslet 15" 0-6-0ST

[Adam]

Some progress pictures of my Hunslet 15" acquired from a member of my dad's club when he finally abandoned 4mm some years back. Built from the Impetus kit to EM, it came to me in a rather tatty coat of maroon and in a poor mechanical state which was more a result of build quality than neglect. This necessitated a full refurbishment of the chassis which had the Romford 40:1 cog being replaced with one of High Level's tiny gearboxes, the amount of play in the compensation severely tamed, and new pickups. As a result, it now runs really pretty well, but I did little more than to strip the body down and give it a tidy up and a repaint. This was the end result:



When this machine has featured in an earlier thread Mike Edge kindly pointed out some details I should have spotted earlier which needed correction, notably the safety vales and the chimney. He was also kind enough to supply replacements from his own kit, at a very reasonable price, and, following a second strip down, here is the state of the engine halfway through the paintshop. The topcoat is Halfords matt black, polished up a bit with T-cut on the lower tank and cab sides. Note the improvement made by the new chimney.



A full list of the work undertaken appears below:

• Strip [phase 1] - Chassis put to one side, worksplates, driver and backhead removed and the body left in a jam jar of cellulose thinners overnight.
• Strip [Phase 2] - Having scrubbed all the paint away, remove sandpipes from underside of footplate (a silly place to put them and the were rather overscale) and then tackle all the other parts identified for replacement: dome/safety valves, chimney, smokebox dart (nice, but overscale), tank handrails (very soft brass and prone to bending, knobs also a bit chunky), remove filler cap, remove saddletank.

The boiler fittings, being soldered on and brass, were a bit of a challenge and I eventually resorted to the hob on the gas cooker. Inevitably, this rough treatment caused the front buffer beam to fall off... The saddle tank had to come off for two reasons. Firstly, because I wanted to do something about the thrupenny bit effect caused by the etched easing lines on the underside and second, because I'd filled it with liquid lead secured with PVA as this is a known risk regarding expansion and subsequent damage.

• Footplate mounted linkages (reverser, sanding gear) were replaced and this time, properly located into holes drilled in cab front and footplate. Experience shows that these things will, otherwise, go ping.
• Saddle tank - once stripped down and emptied, aggressively cleaned up with emery cloth, wet and dry paper and even a large file to smooth the curves. Then cleaned-up, blackened and given a couple of coats of Halford's filler primer. This was left to dry for a few days, sanded and polished back before the tank was filled with lead sheet and shot, secured with epoxy this time, and the holes for the handrail knobs re-drilled. Only then did the new dome and filler cap go on. New handrails were only fitted after the first coat of primer went on. It still isn't perfectly smooth, but it's a lot better than what was there. The whole thing was then glued back on to the boiler tube.
• New clips have been made for the cab roof and some more work has been done inside the cab (planked floor fitted). The sandpipes have been relocated to the chassis and have been chemically blackened rather than painted.

There's more to do - the whistle needs to go back on, not to mention more paint and weathering, but I've also taken the opportunity to revise the livery and to name the loco', mostly to show that work has been done. The lettering, applied using a very small brush, isn't yet finished - there will be a little more and I'm thinking about adding a drop shadow - and most of the white is there as an undercoat for red.



Adam

Edited May 28, 2014 by Adam

[avonside1563]

Nice Adam, interesting that my Impetus 15" kit had the correct pattern chimney and safety valves when I bought it 20 odd years ago. Will have to drag mine out of its box and post a picture here, might also encourage me to finish off the detailing finally!

[Adam]

Thanks Nigel. What happened here is lost in the midst of time or at least, on the workbench of the original builder, since I'm sure I've seen models from this kit with the correct chimney myself. Any pictures of your model would be interesting. The lettering, by the way, looks better in the flesh...

 

Adam

Edited June 21, 2012 by Adam

[Adam]

So, two coats of Railmatch buffer beam red in the appropriate areas and St Teilo looks like this. I've also re-fitted the worksplates and the whistle with its associated cord. The cab interior will be cream over the white undercoat and I still haven't lettered the other side... The lettering is more even in the flesh - resizing the image has accentuated the rather minor variations present somewhat. I could have used transfers, but doing by hand looks closer to the quality of signwriting most NCB sheds were capable of and well, my hands and eyesight are just about good enough!

 

 

Adam

[avonside1563]

As promised Adam, here are a couple of photos of mine, built 20 odd years ago and the second attempt at an Impetus kit (the first was the 16" Bagnall) It is very much overdue a bit of TLC and, if I'm honest, finishing off!

[Adam]

Thanks Arthur. I note that yours has the same chimney mine had - though your safety valves are the correct way round which is odd. Presumably the original builder of mine drilled the holes in the wrong orientation. They're handsome little machines these (well I think they are) and it looks nicely put together. There can't be more than an evening or so's worth of work to get that done surely?

 

That said, mine needs the backhead sticking back in, glazing and a new reverser, never mind weathering... I'm toying with the idea of lining as well since I found I have some red lines in stock.

 

Adam

[avonside1563]

I hadn't noticed the chimney looked so fat in the photos, I'm hoping it's just the dark background but will have to have another look at the actual model later. It also needs the backhead, but before that some more weight so it can handle better loads - when it's running on New Haden Colliery it tends to struggle with a full rake of loaded minerals. I need to get the cab roof off so I can finish the cab inside and add a driver. Probably wouldn't hurt to do some touching up of paint here and there either. Anyway, it will probably have to wait until the BCB project layout is done, although there may be an outing at the forthcoming RMWeb Members day in Stafford where NHC will be in action.

 

Cheers

Nigel

[Adam]

I think whoever made the master/tool for the chimney got a touch confused between the standard chimney and the fabricated funnels fitted to some Yorkshire based machines in conjunction with altered draughting arrangements I think, certainly the taper and top diameter is about right:

 

http://www.embsayboltonabbeyrailway.org.uk/photos/jimpeden01.jpg

 

I've seen New Haden a couple of times I think, nice layout. It's good to see a colliery done properly.

 

Adam

[Adam]

More or less at the two-thirds point of the refurbishment here. The basic painting is done, some weathering has been applied so it isn't quite so black, but there are a few more touches still to do - more weathering, cab window glazing, coal in the bunker, crew and some footplate ephemera (oil cans and the like). It's looking good thus far however.

 

 

 

Adam

Edited July 5, 2012 by Adam

[Ruston]

That looks good now, Adam. When I saw the first pic with the lettering I thought you'd made a big mistake repainting it but the red shading under the name and the weathering really set it off.

[Adam]

Thanks Dave. I had some doubts about the lettering initially (though it could have been taken off really very easily), but the full repaint was non-negotiable as the thru' penny bit effect on the lower corners of the tank had always annoyed me and, since both chimney and dome had been soldered on, there was no option. As noted, there were some issues with build quality that I hadn't tackled first time around and these are now - mostly - resolved. There will be a little more weathering to come in the form of a bit of lime streaking under the smokebox door and some superficial rust here and there, but I think the overall 'look' is about right now. Watch this space...

 

Adam

Edited September 21, 2012 by Adam

[Adam]

It's now seven years(!) later. A quick audit of the box of mixed industrials revealed a couple of mechanical duds (filthy wheels and pick ups) and a burst bunker caused by the combination of lead shot and PVA. The loco? Ah. My fault, of course since I reweighted this model (it was made by Bob Alderman from the Impetus kit and acquired from him when he gave up EM to fully commit to O), alongside replacing the gearbox with something more sophisticated than the Romford cog it was built with.  So what's at stake?

 

 

All three soldered joints had failed as was revealed by a bit of drilling and soaking with warm water:

 

 

Removal turned out to be relatively painless and so I've soldered the rear plate back on and - since it's plain black - a patch repaint is worth trying at least, hence:

 

 

Time to harden off and retouch with a brush. Maybe some cabside lining as well?
 

Adam

[doilum]

Nice work. My 7mm model of Airedale is also, what I believe to be, an Impetus resurrection. Whist waiting for Mike Edge to upsize his 15" Hunslet, I spotted a BIN on eBay from a well known Yorkshire dealer. It was effectively an insurance write off cat C. What started as a "repair bent cab and missing buffer" quickly became a full strip and dip in Nitromors. It turned out to be an early etched kit which  I assume was from Impetus. As it was now dismantled I made the decision to allocate the name plates I had and make the necessary modifications as described in David Smith's articles. I chose to model her in late Ackton Hall condition. When I eventually got a kit from Mike it became "Bawtry" another of the Wheldale 15" Hunslets.

[Adam]

And all done - a bit of a change up with the valance turning black as well.

 

 

Hopefully that's good for the next however long.

 

Adam

[Guest Isambarduk]

On 16/08/2019 at 08:07, doilum said:

My 7mm model of Airedale is also, what I believe to be, an Impetus resurrection

... whereas mine is a reworked 85A Models offering:

 

 

"Airedale" - 15" Hunslet 0-6-0ST

(See: www.davidlosmith.co.uk/HunsletAiredale.htm)

 

David

[doilum]

43 minutes ago, Isambarduk said:

... whereas mine is a reworked 85A Models offering:

 

 

"Airedale" - 15" Hunslet 0-6-0ST

(See: www.davidlosmith.co.uk/HunsletAiredale.htm)

 

David

Still the benchmark model in 7mm. Having read your account I bottled out of converting my 85A model and instead refinished it as Astley, another of the Wheldale / Fryston locomotives. These plastic gems come up from time to time on that well known auction site and the last two have made sensibly modest money. I was tempted to have a bid on the last one and finish it as either Airedale #1 or 2. In the end I decided I had too many other locos in construction.  If offered a cheap non runner I couldn't say no!